Key Technical Issues Remain in Iran Talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second left, meets with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, center, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, third right, at the Iran Nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 9, 201

As Iranian and Western negotiators move closer to a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear capability, key continuing issues need to be resolved.

It seemed in early November that an agreement was at hand after top Western diplomats, including U.S. Secretary John Kerry, flew to Geneva to meet Iranian officials.

Negotiations are now set to resume on November 20 in Geneva. Western and Iranian officials have given indications a framework is within reach to limit Iran’s capability to build a nuclear weapon.

The international community has been trying for years to persuade Iran to end its uranium enrichment program - but with little success. Low enriched uranium can be used for civilian nuclear power plants but highly-enriched uranium is an integral part of a nuclear bomb.

Uranium enrichment key

Jim Walsh, Iran expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says the core of the deal is the uranium enrichment issue.

“No one wants Iran to have a big pile of 20 percent enriched uranium sitting around that might later quickly be converted and further enriched to bomb-grade uranium,” Walsh said. “So if Iran is not producing anymore 20 per cent enrichment and if it disposes of the 20 percent it has already produced - that is a big non-proliferation win.”

Daryl Kimball, head of the Arms Control Association, a private research firm, said 20 percent enrichment gives Iran more than normal reactor fuel grades but not quite weapons grade.

“Western nations also want to stop the introduction of additional centrifuges into the two main enrichment facilities - Natanz and Fordow," he said. "They also would like to dispose of or ship out of the country the existing 20 percent enriched material as well as perhaps some of the low enriched uranium that the Iranians have accumulated.”

Plutonium production caution

Joel Rubin, expert on Iran with the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation specializing in nuclear weapons policy, said another Western demand is for Iran to stop construction of the Arak plutonium production facility. Plutonium is a key component of a nuclear weapon.

“A plutonium facility is above ground, unlike these uranium enrichment facilities. So it’s more easily monitored and would require a reprocessing facility that has not yet been constructed,” Rubin said.

“And it’s estimated that it won’t be completed - this one - until sometime in 2014 at the earliest and then the reprocessing would take more time after that," he said. "But that is a concern - the question is why does Iran need a plutonium facility?”

Sanctions relief wanted

For its part, Iran is looking for substantial relief from the crippling international sanctions that have hurt the country’s economy and financial sector, driving up unemployment and inflation.

Daryll Kimball with the Arms Control Association said Western nations - known as the P5+1 - are willing to ease some sanctions as long as Iran does its part.

“The P5+1 are believed to be offering relief on sanctions involving trade in aircraft parts, automobile parts, trade in gold and precious metals," he said. "And the P5+1 may also be contemplating the release of frozen Iranian assets in banks around the world, assets from oil trading over the past several years.”

“This totals tens of billions of dollars and the P5+1 could gradually release some of those funds as Iran takes concrete steps to limit their programs,” Kimball said.

Andre de Nesnera is senior analyst at the Voice of America, where he has reported on international affairs for more than three decades. Now serving in Washington D.C., he was previously senior European correspondent based in London, established VOA’s Geneva bureau in 1984 and in 1989 was the first VOA correspondent permanently accredited in the Soviet Union.

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Fifty years ago, lawmakers approved, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The measure outlawed racial discrimination in voting, giving millions of blacks in many parts of the southern United States federal enforcement of the right to vote. Correspondent Chris Simkins introduces us to some civil rights leaders who were on the front lines in the struggle for voting rights.

Video

Billions of dollars of so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime - especially from Russia - are being laundered through the London property market, according to anti-corruption activists. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the British capital, the government has pledged to crack down on the practice.

Video

Ottawa, Illinois, is the hometown of W.D. Boyce, who founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. In Ottawa, where Scouting remains an important part of the legacy of the community, the end of the organization's ban on openly gay adult leaders was seen as inevitable. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports.

Video

Artificial limbs, including the most complex of them – the human hand – are getting more life-like and useful due to constant advances in tiny hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motors called actuators. But now, as VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists in Germany say the future of the prosthetic hand may lie not in motors but in wires that can ‘remember’ their shape.

Video

A British pro-democracy group has accused Russia of abusing the global law enforcement agency Interpol by requesting the arrest and extradition of political opponents. A new report by the group notes such requests can mean the accused are unable to travel and are often unable to open bank accounts. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

Talks on a major new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations are said to be nearing completion in Hawaii. Some trade experts say the "positive atmosphere" at the discussions could mean a deal is within reach, but there is still hard bargaining to be done over many issues and products, including U.S. drugs and Japanese rice. VOA's Jim Randle reports.

Video

Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The last such event was caused by an asteroid 66 million years ago. It killed off the dinosaurs and practically everything else. So scientists are in a race against time to classify the estimated 11 million species alive today. So far only 2 million are described by science, and researchers are worried many will disappear before they even have a name. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports.

Video

Scientists have long been trying to develop an effective protection and cure for malaria - one of the deadliest diseases that affects people in tropical areas, especially children. As the World Health Organization announces plans to begin clinical trials of a promising new vaccine, scientists in South Africa report that they too are at an important threshold. George Putic reports, they are testing a compound that could be a single-dose cure for malaria.

Video

The latest issue of 'New York' magazine features 35 women who say they were drugged and raped by film and television celebrity Bill Cosby. The women are aged from 44 to 80 and come from different walks of life and races. The magazine interviewed each of them separately, but Zlatica Hoke reports their stories are similar.

Video

The United States is promising not to give up its fight against what Secretary of State John Kerry calls the “scourge” of modern slavery. Officials released the country’s annual human trafficking report Monday – a report that’s being met with some criticism. VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin has more from the State Department.

Video

Abandoned more than 50 years ago, the underground streetcar station in Washington D.C.’s historic DuPont Circle district is about to be reborn. The plan calls for turning the spacious underground platforms - once meant to be a transportation hub, - into a unique space for art exhibitions, presentations, concerts and even a film set. Roman Mamonov has more from beneath the streets of the U.S. capital. Joy Wagner narrates his report.

Video

Greece has replaced Italy as the main gateway for migrants into Europe, with more than 100,000 arrivals in the first six months of 2015. Many want to move further into Europe and escape Greece’s economic crisis, but they face widespread dangers on the journey overland through the Balkans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

After the closure of a major rubbish dump a week ago, the streets of Beirut are filling up with trash. Having failed to draw up a plan B, politicians are struggling to deal with the problem. John Owens has more for VOA from Beirut.

Video

A U.N. climate conference in December aims to produce an ambitious agreement to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. But many local governments are not waiting, and have drafted their own climate action plans. That’s the case with Paris — which is getting special attention, since it’s hosting the climate summit. Lisa Bryant takes a look for VOA at the transformation of the French capital into an eco-city.